High-ranking FIFA executives and leaders of football's international governing bodies are among those who have been charged in connection with "a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer," according to the US justice department has said.
Some of the most powerful men in world football are facing possible jail sentences after a 47-count charge sheet, against 14 defendants, was filed in a federal court in New York.
Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner, the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA, are among the soccer chiefs and officials charged with racketeering and bribery offences.
Mr Webb and Mr Warner are among nine FIFA officials who are accused of crimes including fraud, bribery and money laundering since 1991.
In a statement, the US justice department said: "Two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks."
"All told, the soccer officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive well over 150 million US dollars in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for their official support of the sports marketing executives who agreed to make the unlawful payments," it reads.
Today is also the first time the convictions of four men, along with two corporate defendants, have been revealed.
They include Daryll and Daryan Warner, sons of FIFA's former vice-president Jack Warner, who each face up to ten years in prison for structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements, the justice department said.
These defendants have previously been convicted after pleaded guilty "under seal" for a range of offences as part of the conspiracy.
The statement adds: "The indicted and convicted individual defendants face maximum terms of incarceration of 20 years for the (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges."
The FIFA officials include:
Jack Warner, from Trinidad and Tobago, is a former FIFA vice-president and executive committee member.
The 72-year-old was investigated by FIFA in 2006 after Ernst and Young estimated that Mr Warner and his family pocketed about €92,000 from reselling World Cup tickets. Mr Warner was fined in the wake of the investigation.
In 2013, Mr Warner and his former cohort, Chuck Blazer, were accused of mismanagement and fraud by CONCACAF.
It alleged that Mr Warner hid his ownership of the land on which CONCACAF’s Joao Havalange Centre of Excellence was built. This effectively made him the owner of the building.
At the time, Mr Warner said,” I left CONCACAF and turned my back on football two years ago. Since then I have had no interest in any football-related matter”.
50-year-old Jeffrey Webb is a current vice-president and executive committee member of FIFA.
He is also CONCACAF President and President of the Cayman Islands Football Association.
Mr Webb, from the Cayman Islands, is also a member of FIFA’s strategic, finance, organising World Cup and emergency committees.
Mr Webb was one of the FIFA officials that called for the publication of Garcia Report, which investigated allegations of corruption surrounding bids from Russia and Qatar for FIFA World Cups.
Rafael Esquivel is the Venezuelan Soccer Federation President.
The 68-year-old Venezuelan is also an executive committee member of Conmebol, the South American Football Confederation.
Eugenio Figueredo is a FIFA vice-president and executive committee member.
The 83-year-old Uruguayan is a former Conmebol President and the former President of the Uruguayan Soccer Federation.
Nicolás Leoz from Paraguay has previously worked as a FIFA executive and committee member.
The 86-year-old was also Conmebol President. Mr Leoz previously worked as a sports journalist.
In May 2011, the then-Head of the English FA, Lord Triesman, accused Mr Leoz of requesting an honourary knighthood in reward for supporting the World Cup bid for England.
Email correspondence later revealed that Mr Leoz asked for the FA Cup to be named after him.
56-year-old Eduardo Li is a current FIFA executive committee member-elect.
The Costa Rican is President of the Costa Rican Soccer Federation and is a Concacaf executive committee member.
Jose Maria Marin from Brazil is a member of the FIFA organising committee for Olympic football tournaments.
The 83-year-old worked as Brazilian FA President from 2012 to 2015 and was a former striker for Sao Paolo.
Mr Marin caused controversy in 2012 when he was caught on camera pocketing a medal during a youth football tournament.
Julio Rocha is a FIFA Development Officer.
The 64-year-old Nicaraguan is the former president of the Central American Football Union and the Nicaraguan Soccer Federation.
Costas Takkas is the current attaché to the CONCACAF President.
The 58-year-old from the UK is a former CIFA General Secretary.
There are a further four defendants who are involved in sports marketing:
Alejandro Burzaco, an Argentinian sports marketing executive.
The 50-year-old is a controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias SA, a sports marketing business, and its affiliates.
It owns the rights to broadcast the Conmebol World Cup qualifiers, the Argentinean Primera Division and the second tier Primera B Nacional.
Aaron Davidson, a 44-year-old sports marketing executive from the US. He is the President of Traffic Sports USA Inc.
70-year-old Hugo Jinkis from Argentina is a controlling principal of Full Play Group SA, a sports marketing business based in Argentina and its affiliates.
Mariano Jinkis, the son of Hugo Jinkis, is also a controlling principal of Full Play Group SA.
Another defendant, 75-year-old Jose Margulies, also known as Jose Lazaro, allegedly acted as an intermediary to facilitate payments between sports marketing executives and soccer officials.
The Brazilian is the controlling principal of Valente Corp and Somerton Ltd.
